


I'll Follow You Into The Dark

by ImogenSmiley



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: 52 Week Oneshot Challenge, Behind Closed Doors, Blind Roy Mustang, Canon Compliant, Canon Injuries, Comfort, Drabble, Established Relationship, F/M, Hidden Relationship, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Moments Alone, Oneshot, Subtle affection, first names, private moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24161488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: Riza had been adamant that regardless of hospital policy, she needed to be by her Colonel’s side.
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Kudos: 42





	I'll Follow You Into The Dark

Riza had been adamant that regardless of hospital policy, she needed to be by her Colonel’s side. He couldn’t see for God’s sake. Did it even matter if she was vulnerable alone with him? He wasn’t accustomed to a life without sight!

She managed to get her way once she was given the all clear. All she could do was rest by his side and provide him with as much information as he could about what was happening around him. It hurt her more than she was willing to admit, when she saw him, the man she had grown to love, to idolise, unable to see her. Maybe that was better, him being blind, then he couldn’t see whether her cheeks were wet with tears.

He had been quick to pull his head back out of the darkness. Riza had been awed by his resolve, during the war, he had been in a depressive slump for months, up until after they left Ishval. She hadn’t been sure what pulled him out of that funk. But it seemed that whatever it was, it still had a firm enough grip on him to remind him that he was still capable.

After all, he had landed an attack with flame alchemy, even without his ability to see. If he was able to do that, if he was able to look Winry Rockbell in the face after he killed her parents on an order at war. If he could look the being that killed his best friend, and hold back to avoid hurting himself, and Riza, he was able to do everything and anything.

Roy Mustang had a better sense of purpose than anyone that Riza knew. Despite all of the trauma he had endured at the hands of the Amestrian Military, there he was, in hospital, facing the window and sunning his face. Even though he couldn’t see the light that bathed his face, he could feel its warmth, and a ghost of a smile formed on his lips. One that was just for himself, and Riza.

She occasionally excused herself from the room, wobbling out of her own bed, and making her way to any other place to cry. After a few days, people learned to just let the Leiutenant get on with it. She wouldn’t confide in anyone about her anguish, especially not someone as ignorant, albeit empathetic as a nurse. Instead, she would sob into her hands about what Truth had handed Roy and wished for the power to turn back time.

She longed for time to reverse, take her back to childhood, when her father was training Roy as an apprentice, when the secrets to flame alchemy were branded into her back. She wished she could go back and study the scars on her skin, learn how to do what Roy could. Maybe, if she, too was an alchemist, she could have been the one Wrath attacked to be a sacrifice.

As she pawed at her eyes, having hidden in a cubicle in the hospital for another chance to weep, Riza knew that had she been in Roy’s position, she would have happily given anything so he didn’t have to. Perhaps she felt too strongly for her love. Perhaps she only believed that because all of her own war crimes were committed from a distance. Roy had had to take out towns, cities, and comrades with his alchemy. All Riza had to do was pull a trigger. What could they have taken from her that would have been as valuable as the sight of the ever-famous Flame Alchemist?

Riza sighed, making her way back to the room she had commandeered with Roy, making him aware of her return. He turned to her, reaching his hand toward her,

“Lieutenant… Riza, I think we can do something to pay for our sins.”

“You know I’ll follow you, Colonel. I’ll follow you wherever you lead me," she paused, "Roy.”

She drew his outstretched hand into her own, bringing their hands toward her lips. She kissed their entwined fingers, and watched a faint tinge of blush flood onto Roy’s cheeks.

“I’m so glad you’re still here with me, Lieutenant.”

“And I, you, Colonel.”


End file.
